From: Jeff Mackler <jmackler@sirius.com>
The Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
3425 Cesar Chavez Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
Phone 415/695-7745 * Fax 415/821-0166
… … MUMIA 911 … …
NATIONAL DAY OF ART TO STOP THE EXECUTION OF MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
THE FOLLOWING EVENTS ARE ALL TAKING PLACE ON SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11TH:
MUSIC: 11am - 4pm at Dolores Park, Dolores and 19th
Streets, San Francisco Spearhead, Digital Underground, The Coup,
Angela Davis and Michael Franti - Free
8pm at ILWU Local 6, 255 9th Street, San Francisco (near
Civic Center)
SPOKEN WORD/ Slammin' For Mumia: With Host/McParadise Free Jahlovesupreme,
MUSIC: Jon Jang (Asian American Jazz pianist), The New Word Order,
Wordsmiths from Poor Magazine, and Open Mike for poems about
Mumia and Resistance Donation Requested
MULTI Evening at the Intersection of 17th and Harrison Streets,
Mission District
MEDIA: of San Francisco Public Art Slideshow with poetry, music,
and performance. Artwork from Dozens of local and national artists will be
projected onto the former site of Jesus "Chuy" Compesano's Lilli Ann Mural
that was illegally whitewashed but, through organized public protest, will
be restored.
VISUAL 7pm at Dance Mission Studios, 3316 - 24th Street, San Francisco
ARTS The Agency presents MISSION 911 in conjunction with Dance
DANCE: Mission Studios. Various Mumia Videos, and performances:
featuring Sean Nash, Ivan Wachter, Joaquin Newman, Jason Barnes, Trixie
Garcia, Miguel Angel, Osorio Lopez, DJ Kenyata Dibase, poets Elena
Gardella, Kids from Youth Speak, and others.
… … MUMIA AWARENESS WEEK … …
NATIONAL WEEK OF ACTIONS TO STOP THE EXECUTION OF MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
DURING THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 19TH THROUGH SEPTEMBER 26TH, 1999, HUNDREDS OF
CITIES AROUND THE WORLD WILL BE ORGANIZING A SERIES OF EVENTS TO EDUCATE
THE PUBLIC AND PUBLICIZE THE CASE OF DEATH ROW INMATE, MUMIA ABU-JAMAL.
THE FOLLOWING EVENTS WILL TAKE PLACE IN THE SAN FRANCISCO - BAY AREA:
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21st: INTERNATIONAL STUDENT/YOUTH DAY: EVENTS TBA
POETRY FOR MUMIA: 7:00 pm, Marcus Bookstore.
3900 Martin Luther King, Jr., Drive, Oakland
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24TH: LABOR'S FIGHT: WORKERS' ACTION TO FREE
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL, 7:00pm, ILWU Local #10, 400 Northpoint, San Francisco.
Speakers: Jack Heyman, ILWU organizer of the 22 West Coast Ports Work
Stopage for Mumia;, Bob Mandel, Oakland Education Association, organizer of
the Oakland Schools Teach-Ins on Mumia; Daniel Garcia, Brother of Mark
Garcia, killed by S.F. Police, John Reiman, Carpenter's Union, and others.
Donation requested
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24TH: RALLY FOR JUSTICE, 7:00 pm, Mission
Cultural Center, 2868 Mission Street, S.F. Speakers: Leslie Feinberg,
author and transgender activist; Babatunde Lea & Friends, musicians; Gloria
La Riva, National People's Campaign, Dorsey Nunn, Prisoner's Rights
Activist; Jimmy Salcedo, Produccion A La Brava, spoken word, and others
$5-$20 donation, nobody turned away for lack of funds
Sponsored by Rainbow Flags for Mumia and National People's Campaign
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24TH: MUMIA AND THE DEATH PENALTY 6:00pm- 9:00pm,
St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison Street, Berkeley. Sponsored by
PEN Oakland. Speakers: UC Berkeley Professor Ishmael Reed, UC Berkeley
Professor Bruce Cain, Hastings Law School Professor Rory Little, Occidental
College Associate Professor Garielle Forman, author Melody Ermachild
Chavis, Jeff Mackler, Co-Coordinator of the Mobilization to Free Mumia
Abu-Jamal, and Radio Journalist Kiilu Nyasha. Free admission
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25TH: CARAVAN FOR MUMIA - TAKING THE TRUTH TO THE
COMMUNITY. Join with scores of cars, bicyclists, bladers and boarders as
three caravans will wind their way through important communities in San
Francisco. Help distribute the truth of Mumia, his case, and the need to
mobilize for a new trial and to Stop The Execution!
Meet at 11:00 am at the following locations:
… Bay View Playground - Third St.BetweenArmstrong and Carroll
… Marina Green Parking lot at Marina Boulevard and Filmore
… George Washington High School, Geary between 30th and 32nd Avenues in the
Richmond District
Call the Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal at 415-695-7745 for more
information.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 26TH: CONCERT 7:00 pm Dr. Loco and Others Presbyterian
Church on Capp and 23rd Streets
==============================>
From: hunt <sarahunt@flash.net>
There are over 100 Mumia 911 art, theater, poetry and music
events on September 11, 1999, nationwide involving over 1,000
artists - Check Out WWW.MUMIA911.ORG for a full listing!
Press Release
A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH - VOICES OF THE PEOPLE
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1999
8PM NORRIS THEATER, USC CAMPUS
$5 DONATION (OR $15 FOR FILM FESTIVAL AND READING)
PRESS INFORMATION CONTACT (323) 469- 9227
PUBLIC INFO LINE (323) 769- 7037
On Saturday September 11 at 8pm in Norris Theater on the USC
campus more than a dozen film actors and other performers will
present A Matter of Life and Death - Voices of the People. The
Artists include Edward Asner, Robert Guillaume, Vanessa Williams,
Esai Morales, Howard Hesseman, Paula Poundstone, Haskell Wexler,
Michael York, Ed Begley Jr., Susan Anspach, Max Gail, John
Randolph, William Schallert, Norman Corwin, Rene Auberjonois,
Harlan Ellison, Hector Alizondo, Tony Franciosa, Roscoe Lee
Brown, Susan Clark , Mike Farrell, Henry Gibson, The Watts
Prophets, Lou Myers and more. Norman Lear & Rob Reiner are also
lending their support. More artists are adding on every day!
These artists will be reading and performing works by, for, about
or inspired by death row prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal and the issues
concentrated in the struggle to save his life. This event will
cap off a day that includes an earlier film festival featuring
Burn, The Murder of Fred Hampton, Classified X and others.
This event will undoubtedly be very controversial. The artists
participating in this event are courageous and impassioned about
their principles. Raising an artistic voice in opposition to the
execution of Mumia is not popular among the authorities rushing
to execute him. Most recently the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP)
announced that they were launching a nationwide boycott of
individuals and organizations who support the cause of Mumia
Abu-Jamal. Edward Asner was among those specifically targeted by
the FOP boycott. This is nothing less than police and government
suppression of the arts and progressive artists who speak their
opinions. It brings to mind the infamous Hollywood Blacklist of
the 1950s and Germany in the 1930s.
Mumia Abu-Jamal has said, "They don't just want my death, they
want my silence!" And they want our silence in the face of this
grave injustice. This is something we refuse to hand over. We
will not be intimidated, we are right!
This event is part of Mumia 911, the National Day of Art to Stop
the Execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal. More than one thousand artists
across the country have come together to create this day. As our
Call for the National Day of Art to Stop the Execution of Mumia
Abu-Jamal states, "We do not consent to the murder of this
man..We will not stand by as they try to silence a journalist
known to many as the Voice of the Voiceless...On September 11,
1999 we will stomp the earth, lift our voices, write, sing, act
and paint the walls. We will create a culture of resistance to
stop the killing of Mumia Abu- Jamal."
======================================>
From: Steve Bloom <sblm@erols.com>
Here is the text of an article that will appear in the next issue of the
magazine *Against the Current.*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Attacks in Philadelphia, Lies in VANITY FAIR:
A New Campaign Against Mumia
by Steve Bloom
THE AUGUST ISSUE of *Vanity Fair* published an article
purporting to show that death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal had
"confessed" his guilt in the early 1990s in a conversation with a
Pennsylvania Prison Society volunteer, one Philip Bloch. At an
August 3 press conference held at the studios of WHAT, a Black
radio station in Philadelphia, Mumia's attorneys presented evidence
exposing the *Vanity Fair* report as a fraud.
The new "revelations" against Mumia have arisen against
the backdrop of a series of attacks on supporters of Mumia
Abu-Jamal in Philadelphia since the April 24 Millions
for Mumia demonstration (see *ATC* #81).
1) Pamela Jenkins--a former prostitute who signed an
affidavit for Mumia's attorneys bolstering the case that police
attempted to manufacture evidence against him before his
original trial--was arrested immediately after the April 24
demonstration. In addition to the time and money required
to fight even bogus charges in court, Jenkins fears these
recent difficulties will be used as an excuse to remove her
children from her custody.
2) >Attempts have been made by city officials to sabotage
the work of the Black United Fund (BUF), Philadelphia's main Black
charity. This is in retaliation for the fact that the BUF serves
(completely legally) as a conduit for money donated to Mumia's
defense.
3) A series of attacks have been launched against the MOVE
organization, International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia
Abu-Jamal, and their principal spokesperson Pam Africa. Two former
MOVE members claiming (in a style reminiscent of the FBI's
COINTELPRO disruption operation from the 1960s and `70s) to speak
for the "real MOVE" have been appearing on TV and radio denouncing
Pam and the defense effort around Mumia.
They even arrived one day on the porch of the MOVE residence,
accompanied by an array of press correspondents, in an effort
apparently designed to provoke an incident. And at 5 AM on June 28,
police invaded the property around the MOVE house claiming to be in
pursuit of a suspect who had fled in that direction. They said they
were unaware that the house was occupied by MOVE members.
All of this is deadly serious, recalling the worst police
practices during Mumia's original trial, and even incidents which
occurred before the infamous bombing of the MOVE house in 1985,
resulting in the destruction of an entire city block.
Until July, however, the stepped-up anti-Mumia campaign was
pretty much limited to Philadelphia itself, the only exception
being an unsuccessful effort by right-wing forces to get Mumia
disinvited as a commencement speaker at Evergreen College in
Olympia, Washington. (Mumia sent a recorded message.)
Then the August issue of *Vanity Fair* magazine came
out with a feature article by one Buzz Bissinger. Some might see
this as merely another in a long line of smear jobs by
establishment journalists against Mumia and his supporters--and
this is true so far as it goes. But much more, Bissinger's article
represents a new stage in the campaign to railroad Mumia and assure
his execution.
Who is Buzz Bissinger?
Though *Vanity Fair* does not bother to inform its readers,
Bissinger is not some disinterested journalist. As a writer for the
*Philadelphia Inquirer* Bissinger's articles were instrumental in
assuring the 1987 election of Wilson Goode over former mayor Frank
Rizzo in 1987.
When current mayor Ed Rendell succeeded Goode after the 1991
election, Bissinger was given privileged access to the Mayor's
office, and in return for these favors he wrote his book, *A Prayer
for the City,* in which he praises Rendell for saving Philadelphia
through union-busting against city workers and cutbacks in city
services.
Rendell, by all accounts, will soon seek higher office. But
he faces a difficulty: his record as Philadelphia District Attorney
in the early 1980s, when Mumia's trial took place. Clearly a new
trial resulting in Mumia's acquittal would be a severe black eye
and would damage Rendell's chances in another election.
Thus Bissinger's services were called upon once again to
do this new puff piece in an effort to whitewash Rendell's record.
Regular readers of *ATC* who took note of the response
in our January/February issue to the slanderous segment
about Mumia on the ABC news show *20/20,* and who also read
the *Vanity Fair* article, may recognize many of the same
techniques used by Bissinger:
* The prosecution case against Mumia is presented as
fact, the questions about it as speculation, and the most important
questions about it ignored entirely.
* Bissinger selectively cites "evidence" and quotes the statements
of prosecution witness without raising any of the serious questions
about the use of coercive tactics by the police to secure testimony
favorable to their case against Mumia.
* He presents the fact that Mumia's appeal was turned
down by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court as if this were an objective
statement about its merits--ignoring the reality that the justices
of this court, being elected, could not sustain Mumia's appeal
without having their defeat in the next election virtually assured
by the withdrawal of support from the FOP and powerful political
figures.
Bissinger characterizes Mumia's appeal hearings before the
same judge who heard the original case, Albert Sabo, and before
this state Supreme Court, as "exhaustive appeals"!
* Those involved in the movement for a new trial are
portrayed as foolish leftist dupes who "haven't read the trial
transcript" and are therefore ignorant about the case. (The
relevant transcript is 12,306 pages. Bissinger himself has
certainly not read it.)
* Maureen Faulkner, widow of the police officer Mumia
is accused of shooting, is presented as a lone, persecuted voice in
the wilderness seeking justice. The fact that she is amply
supported by the Fraternal Order of Police and Pennsylvania's
political and financial elite is never mentioned.
Bissinger goes even further than previous media attacks
in portraying Mumia not as a victim of injustice, but as one who
has actually benefitted from being on death row. According to this
article it is only his trial and imprisonment that revived an
otherwise dying career as a journalist. "A growth industry has
sprouted on his behalf, a mass of merchandising at rallies and
college lectures that any movie studio would envy."
Unnamed "former journalistic colleagues" are cited
explaining that Mumia was on the skids personally and
professionally before his arrest. Naturally his readers do not hear
the voices of others who have given a different account.
Thus the reader is left with the distinct impression of a
powerful worldwide movement in support of a popular icon arrayed
against a poor beleaguered Maureen Faulkner fighting for justice.
This is consciously designed to weaken sympathy for Mumia, and
especially activism on his behalf.
But the reality is precisely the opposite. Despite the
international campaign for justice in this case, those who want to
see Mumia executed still have the upper hand, and the movement to
win a new trial faces an uphill battle.
A Dangerous New Twist
What gives the *Vanity Fair* article its special,
more sinister character is the new "revelation" of another
alleged "confession" by Mumia. Bissinger has uncovered
one Philip Bloch, "a former volunteer for a prison-reform
organization."
Bloch came forward with the following story: In the early
1990s he had a number of conversations with Mumia in prison. During
one of those conversations he asked, "Do you have any regrets
about killing the officer?" According to Bloch Mumia answered,
"Yes."
Mumia himself issued the most eloquent possible reply to
such a fantastic tale (see box below). These kinds of fabricated
jail-house "confessions" have long been the stock in trade of
police and prosecutors trying to manufacture evidence where they
had none, or not enough to win a conviction.
Subsequently, looking through his papers, Mumia discovered
a letter Bloch wrote to him months after the supposed "confession."
In this letter (in Bloch's handwriting), Bloch states that he is
looking forward to justice for Mumia, and that Mumia would be
acquitted if he got a new trial. Obviously these are not the words
of one who "knows" that Mumia is guilty because he has already
heard a "confession."
The new angle here is that Bloch was not a fellow prisoner,
but a prison volunteer (who was, by the way, dismissed by the
Pennsylvania Prison Society for violating its code of ethics). But
of course Bloch's story has now been trumpeted by the pro-execution
faction as new "proof" of Mumia's guilt.
ABC news reran its previous 20/20 hatchet job, with the addition
of this "new information." Bloch has appeared on TV and radio
shows nation-wide, without any of the establishment news media
posing the obvious questions about his credibility. In Philadelphia
a right-wing talk show host, Mike Smerconish, has used this
"evidence" as an excuse to go on a daily witch-hunt against Mumia's
supporters.
Now that Bloch has been revealed as a fraud, the Philadelphia
press has covered the new developments. It remains to be seen
whether *Vanity Fair,* ABC's 20/20 and other media outlets give
this the same play they did to Bloch's original "exposure" of
Mumia.
Renewed Effort Needed
The attacks against the Mumia movement in Philadelphia
and the *Vanity Fair* article demonstrate that the international
campaign for a new trial is having an effect. The Pennsylvania
establishment feels the need to fight back. All of this takes place
on the eve of major developments in Mumia's federal court appeals,
which are expected during the month of October.
Organizers are gearing up for Mumia Awareness Week--the
next series of national actions scheduled for September 19-25. The
week will culminate with actions in "100 Cities for Mumia"
on Saturday, September 25. This autumn promises, therefore, to be
a crucial period in the fight to win justice for this most famous
of U.S. political prisoners.
========================================>
IT'S TIME TO PICK UP THE PACE!
International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
P.O. Box 19709 - Philadelphia, PA 19143
Ph: 215-476-8812 / Fax: 215-476-7551
Web: www.mumia.org / E-mail: mumia@webcom.com
MUMIA MUST LIVE!